It speaks volumes about Death Cab For Cutie’s place in the indie-verse that they shocked near enough anyone who has an opinion on such things with recent single I Will Possess Your Heart. It’s now mandatory to describe it as eight-and-a-half-minute-long-single I Will Possess Your Heart.

Though the claustrophobic bleed and torpid chiming of the song’s intro was striking, it’s not exactly like the mild-mannered Washington State quartet were venturing into demented new pastures. When the song kicks in midway, it’s tunefully wistful business as usual.

But it was unexpected, because though DCFC are far from the only Pacific north-west alt.rock band to have achieved success of late, in many ways they’re the most conservative. They uphold the traditional indie values of lyricism, introversion and melody without Modest Mouse’s ravaged freakouts or The Shins’ high drama.

This is not a bad thing: if latest album Narrow Stairs suggests that, one lengthy intro aside, they probably said all they had to say about three records back, then there’s a pleasure in their consistency.

For more than a decade now Ben Gibbard has proved to be one of the scene’s finest lyricists, and it’s nice to grow older with him. Live, they remain pretty constant, too. Don’t expect fireworks, but Gibbard is an engaging frontman, wry, dry and with a twitching energy. Death Cab For Cutie don’t trade in surprises, but they’re as reliable as a heartbeat.